Question

I wake to the fire being out and the light coming in through the doorway. I stretched out my arms above my head with a yawn. My stomach roared at me and I realized I had not eaten since well I can't even remember. My stomach continues its protests as I put my boots on. I walked outside and headed around back in the direction Wallace went to last night. I was greeted by the smell of cooked meat. My mouth watered as I sped to a speed walk. I found Wallace bent over a fire with a big chunk of meat roasting on a stick. My stomach gave another roar to my embarrassment.

Wallace looked up and laughed. "Come sit I will grab you some. I was just keeping it warm for when you got up. Your stomach woke me before dawn." His grin only got bigger as I felt my whole face on fire. If only I could bury my head in the ground right now. I expected him to hand me the meat on a leaf-like some survival show or something. I was happily surprised when he handed me it on a wooden plate. "Now eat up. I don't like to brag but I can cook a good deer." I rolled my eyes but he was right. Each bite was like heaven to my empty stomach. With full stomachs, it was time to have the talk we had to put off last night.

"So, Wallace…"

He interrupted "I would love it if you called me Father or Dad. If that's okay with you?" I looked at his hopeful look. It couldn't hurt to at least try. The man was nothing like the man I grew up thinking was my Dad.

I pressed my lip together before speaking "Dad?" He smiled and nodded eagerly. When the word left me it felt good. A word that used to be rarely used and felt almost empty now had life. The way he looked at me after I said it gave the word warmth. I couldn't help saying it again. "Dad!" I was pulled into a tight hug.

I felt tears on my shoulder. "When Serafina disappeared I thought I would never hear those words." Had he been alone all this man been alone all these years? Was my mom's disappearance so hard he couldn't think out starting with someone new? More questions to add to the already long list.

I hugged him back "I am here now Dad. You can stop crying now. I am not going anywhere, okay?"

After a few, we pulled apart. My dad wiped away his tears. "Sorry dear, These are happy tears more than anything." He smiled as proof. "So, I promised you some answers. What would you like to ask?"

I had so many but it was best to start with the past and Mom. "What happened the day my mom disappeared?"

Wallace was silent for a few scratching his chin. "You have to understand females are precious because there are so few of them. 1 to every 20 males or more. Add in the fact that they can have cubs only once a year makes it more troublesome." You gotta be kidding me. These females only had cramps one a year. I wish I was them. I hate that time of the month like pulling teeth. I guess it's bad for the population, but still, any girl back home would be screaming SIGN ME UP!. " Your mother was even rarer than just any female. She was a dragon and could shift. Only 1 in 60 females can shift and well dragons are almost extinct." Dad watched my face as he let that sink in. My mother was like the golden ticket in Willy Wonka. Worse I may become one of those golden tickets. A shiver ran through my body as I thought of what that would mean for me. Dad took my hands "The day your mom vanished a group of men came to town looking for her. They wanted to be her mates and they were not taking no for an answer. I told your mom to wait by the falls. I never thought they would go so far as to attack the village. I was young and didn't think things through. After we chased them off your mother was nowhere to be found. I searched for years but eventually I.." His eyes were dark and full of pain. "I had to face facts. Serafina was either out of my reach or dead."

I squeezed his hands. "You did everything you could. There is no way you could have known she fell through the water into another world."

He gave me a sad smile "Thank you but you're wrong. There are what I thought were cubs tales about Mirror Fall. They say the reason for its name is that you can get glimpses of far off lands in its waters. Camila told me they were not just stories and then like your mom vanished." He shook his head "Ayame told me not to worry because she'd be back soon enough. I should have believed Camila."

I couldn't blame him when I would have thought the same. This Camila must be that old bat."Does Camila look like Ayame?"

Dad nodded "They are twins and very few could tell them apart out of animal form. Ayame is a panther while Camila is a black bat." Oh god, she is an old bat for like real. I felt my jaw drop while my dad gave my reaction a quizzical look.

"Um, you see she is the reason I am here." I told him everything about my 'rescuing her' though now it seemed she was in no real danger. The old bat was a good actress. I will give her that. My dad was not happy I ran into danger. He scowled until the end. "Until now I was referring to her as Old Bat because where I come from it means a crazy old lady." Dad burst out laughing. That was better than the angry look from before. I went on to tell him about the world I came from. He had lots of questions mostly about things I couldn't answer. I didn't know how to make skyscrapers, electricity, or hot dogs. I had fun talking to him about everything. Before we knew it the sun was high in the sky and my stomach was ready for lunch.